Speaker firm moves into haptic IC design

LONDON – HiWave Technologies plc., a flat panel audio speaker developer formerly known as NXT, has produced its first chip, as part of a family of haptics controller ICs, to provide tactile feedback in touch panels and touchscreens.

The HIHS9002 is designed for use with the company’s haptic exciters and includes control of the company's "bending wave technology" that can be used to position tactile feedback on a flat panel.

Multiple haptic signals and audio cues are stored in the chip's non-volatile memory, which it sends to a pair of exciters on receipt of screen co-ordinates and vectors from the host processor. In addition, it contains audio cues that can be delivered through the same transducers, which turn the flat panel or display into a loudspeaker.

HiWave (Cambridge, England) is transforming itself into a fabless chip company but did not indicate which foundry it is using to make the HIHS9002 or in what process technology the chip is made.

"Low latency and localization of response are keys to meaningful haptics. Human sensitivity to tactile, audio and visual cues when using smart phones or tablet computers demands that the haptic function is independent of the system processor and operating system," said James Lewis, CEO of HiWave, in a statement.

The HIHS9002 comes in 48-pin LQFP and 64-pin BGA packages. Samples are available and the chip will be priced at $4.00 in 1,000 piece quantities.